Ten Cavaliers Score in 21-9 Victory Over Quinnipiac

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Ten different Cavaliers found the back of the net in Virginia’s 21-9 route over Quinnipiac Saturday night at Klöckner Stadium. Xander Dickson scored a game-high five goals on 10 shots and Connor Shellenberger posted three goals on six shots and dished out a pair of assists. Payton Cormier registered a career-high four assists in addition to his pair goals. Petey LaSalla (23-28 FO) set a season high in faceoff wins and finished three wins shy of tying his career high.

With the win, No. 6 Virginia improved to 9-3 overall on the season, while Quinnipiac fell to 2-8. Matthew Nunes (9-3) earned the win in the cage for the Cavaliers, while Nick DiMuccio (2-8) suffered the loss.

Saturday’s game was dedicated to the One Love Foundation. The One Love Foundation was created in 2010 to honor the memory of former Virginia women’s lacrosse player Yeardley Love. Since her passing, One Love’s mission has been to educate, empower and activate young people in a movement to end relationship violence and to promote healthy relationships in its place.

HOW IT HAPPENED
After Quinnipiac registered the first score of the game just over two minutes in, the Cavaliers scored six straight, including three consecutive goals from Shellenberger to lead it 6-1 at the end of the first. Once again, the Bobcats initiated the scoring to open the period in the second, but this time the Cavaliers responded by scoring nine unanswered from five different shooters. Quinnipiac answered at the 1:47 mark of the second as the Cavaliers led 15-3 at the intermission.

Both teams traded the first four goals of the third before the Cavaliers claimed the last three of the period, including Paul Rodriguez’s second goal of the season, to hold a 19-5 heading into the fourth. Late in the third period, David Roselle replaced Nunes in the cage and made four saves in 16:04 of action. With a handful of non-starters from both teams checking into the game in the fourth, the Bobcats out-scored UVA 4-2 in the final period. Patrick McIntosh and Rodriguez both scored for the Cavaliers in the fourth and finished Saturday’s game with two goals each.

FROM THE LOCKER ROOM
Lars Tiffany on the importance of tonight’s One Love Foundation Game…

“It’s a joy to be able to represent One Love, an organization that does a fantastic job [with] the messaging of healthy relationships and how critical those are for all of us. And not just romantic ones, but all relationships that we have in our lives. So, I feel very fortunate to be able to wear the t-shirt [and] send a message. But it’s really meaningful for us. We were part of a One Love walk two weeks ago and last week we had a workshop with women’s lacrosse team. What a fantastic organization.”

WITH THE WIN…

• With an overall record of 9-3, Virginia is off its best start since 2012 when the Cavaliers started the season 10-2.
• UVA remained undefeated (7-0) at Klöckner Stadium this season.
• The Cavaliers won their 16th straight game immediately following a loss (in the same season). UVA is now 20-2 under head coach Lars Tiffany following a loss. Under Tiffany, UVA’s only pair of back-to-back losses were in 2017, his first year as Cavaliers’ head coach.
• Virginia is now 2-0 in night games in 2022 and 49-12 all-time in night games at Klöckner Stadium.
• Virginia won the first-ever matchup in series history against Quinnipiac and remained undefeated against current members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). UVA is 2-0 against Manhattan, 1-0 against Marist, 1-0 against Quinnipiac and 1-0 against Siena all-time.
• Tiffany improved to 9-0 all-time against the Bobcats, having also defeated Quinnipiac seven time as the head coach at Brown and once as head coach at Stony Brook.

 ADDITIONAL NOTES

• Virginia’s 21 goals scored tied its season high. The Cavaliers also scored 21 goals in its season opener, a 21-11 decision over Air Force on Feb. 5.
• With 19 Bobcat turnovers, Virginia has forced at least 17 opponent turnovers in its last five games.
• Eight of Quinnipiac’s 19 total turnovers were on clear attempts.
• With three goals and two assists, Connor Shellenberger has posted at least one point in all 30 of his career games and has registered multiple assists in 24 games.
• For the second game in a row, Petey LaSalla collected at least 10 ground balls. He had 11 in UVA’s game at Duke (April 14).
• Thirty-three different Cavaliers played in Saturday’s win.

UP NEXT
Virginia travels to Syracuse on Saturday (April 23) for its final ACC contest and road test. Opening faceoff from the Carrier Dome is set for 4 p.m. on ESPNU. A win over the Orange would clinch UVA’s 19^th ACC title all-time.